Self-Adaptation and Transnationality in Marjane Satrapi's Poulet Aux

Adaptation Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 68–88 doi:10.1093/adaptation/apu069 Advance Access publication 1 February 2015 Self-adaptation and Transnationality in Marjane Satrapi’s Poulet aux prunes (2011) Colleen Kennedy-KARPAT* Downloaded from Abstract Marjane Satrapi’s Poulet aux prunes offers an intriguing example of self-adaptation from comics to live-action film. This essay will consider how the Franco-Iranian Satrapi, within her dual role as self-adapter and transnational filmmaker, uses intertextuality and remediation beyond http://adaptation.oxfordjournals.org/ her own source text in ways that pointedly expand the transnational resonance of her film. These narrative and aesthetic strategies also extend to the film’s paratextual discourses, namely, the extras available on the French DVD release of the film. The book, film, and DVD paratexts related to Poulet aux prunes thus form the core of this discussion of self-adaptation and transnationality. Keywords Self-adaptation, comics, cinema, Marjane Satrapi, transnational, paratext. One assumes that the usual course of film adaptation involves handing over a promis- ing text—a novel, a story, a graphic novel, serial comics, etc.—to a team of filmmak- ers charged with reshaping the material to fit the dimensions and formal demands at Bilkent University Library (BILK) on December 23, 2015 of the big screen. A related presumption holds that this transcoding—to use Linda Hutcheon’s term—implicates, on the one hand, one or more ‘original’ authors and, on the other, an entirely new group of creative professionals. This process, as Shelley Cobb argues, might best be modelled as a conversation between authors and adapters, between source text(s) and their adaptations. While Cobb’s metaphor offers a refreshing alternative to the rhetoric of fidelity criticism, how might we account for adaptations where this ‘conversation’ takes place with oneself ? In other words, what might self- adaptation, where an author adapts his or her own previous work, show us about the way any adaptation works? To examine this issue of self-adaptation, this essay offers a case study of Marjane Satrapi’s Poulet aux prunes [Chicken with Plums], first released as a French graphic novel in 2004 and followed in 2011 by a (mostly) live-action film that Satrapi co-wrote and co- directed in Germany’s Babelsberg studios with a multinational cast. In addition to con- sidering how Satrapi, within her role as self-adapter, articulates her authority in both media, this analysis also explores how the film adaptation of Poulet aux prunes uses intertextuality and remediation within the live-action format to expand the transnational resonance of her film. Intertextuality, in Gérard Genette’s broadest formulation, des- ignates the evidence of a hypotext (i.e., a preexisting source text) within a second, new text. Remediation, as defined by Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, involves grafting *Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture, Department of Communication and Design, Bilkent University. E-mail: [email protected]. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected] 68 Self-adaptation and Transnationality 69 the aesthetic or functionality of one, usually older medium onto the form of another, e.g., films remediating productions designed for the stage, or video games assuming the qualities of film. In Poulet aux prunes, both intertextuality and remediation affix Satrapi’s own transnationality to the narrative and paratextual discourses of her film. Satrapi’s work sits at the crossroads of two lacunae formed by trends in studies of comics-to-film adaptations: on the one hand, the dominance of the superhero genre (in criticism as at the box office); on the other, the priority granted to Anglo-American com- Downloaded from ics. After a strong start as a noted author-artist in bande dessinée,1 a longstanding graphic narrative tradition in Francophone Europe, Satrapi co-directed a critically acclaimed, animated adaptation of her four-part Persepolis (books 2000–03; film 2007). Satrapi’s work eschews the long-term seriality endemic to a great deal of mainstream comics production—e.g., the mainstays of the Marvel and DC catalogues or, for a European http://adaptation.oxfordjournals.org/ example, the ongoing adventures of Astérix and Obélix2—a framework that aligns Satrapi’s books more squarely with the closed narrative of literary novels. Like many of her forebears in the form, including Harvey Pekar and Art Spiegelman, her narratives are also deeply personal, with the term graphic memoir usefully describing the four-part Persepolis; however, the story in Poulet aux prunes depends far less than its predecessor on her personal and family history. This blend of personal narrative and niche commercial appeal puts the film adaptation of Poulet aux prunes in line with the production scope and market ambition of American comics-to-film adaptations like Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001) or American Splendor (Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, 2003). Yet, compared to these American films, Poulet aux prunes stands out for Satrapi’s at Bilkent University Library (BILK) on December 23, 2015 transnationality and for the degree of control she exerts over the transcoding to a new medium. Comics scholar Bart Beaty recognises Satrapi as a prominent figure in an international group of artist-authors that he likens to ‘the Antonionis, Bergmans, Fellinis, and Godards of the graphic novel age’ (this allusion to celebrated directors is just one parallel that he draws between comics and cinema); yet of this sample pan- theon, only Satrapi has used her background in comics to angle for the status of cinematic auteur (108). Other creators have certainly played a role in adapting their work for the big screen—e.g., Daniel Clowes co-authoring the screenplay for Ghost World— but Satrapi is among the rare author-artists to assume directorial duties. Frank Miller has also co-directed adaptations of his own work in Sin City (2005) and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), but his case as a comics-to-film self-adapter is complicated by the industry credentials and established production company that were brought to the table by his partner Robert Rodriguez, whose creative reputation stems from filmmaking rather than comics. In contrast, Satrapi and her co-director Vincent Paronnaud, both steeped in bande dessinée, entered filmmaking together for the first time with Persepolis; since then, Satrapi has leveraged this experience into a full-fledged directorial career that now stands completely independent of this partnership that helped launch it. The decision to move away from the animation of Persepolis and instead film Poulet aux prunes with actors on a studio set introduces a host of issues that make this follow-up film a particularly rich text for examining how different narrative strategies and priorities emerge when an author-artist’s drawings on a page inspire live action on a screen. Poulet aux prunes thus illustrates the four fundamental concerns that Pascal Lefèvre (2007) iden- tifies in comics-to-film adaptation: adding or deleting source material to suit cinematic 70 COLLEEN KENNEDY-KARPAT convention, page layout versus linear editing, photography/cinematography versus drawing, and film sound imposed on the ‘silent’ medium of comics. This essay will consider these four problems as manifested in the film adaptation of Poulet aux prunes and examine how Satrapi’s solutions reflect the project’s transnationalism. CUTS, COMPROMISES, AND CONVENTIONS: COMICS ON THE PAGE, CINEMA ON THE SCREEN Downloaded from The need to alter source material to suit the requirements of another medium is certainly not unique to comics-to-film adaptation, but among the four points of tension that Lefèvre describes, the question of adding or removing material is particularly likely to instigate debates about fidelity. Despite recent, determined efforts to manoeuvre the field beyond this persistent sticking point, fidelity remains both visible and contentious http://adaptation.oxfordjournals.org/ in adaptation studies; no consensus has emerged about how best to move past it, or even whether it must be surpassed at all.3 As the sense and significance of fidelity continue to evolve, self-adaptation offers a shortcut through some of its thorniest debates. When an author-artist becomes involved in the subsequent film adaptation of her work, accusa- tions of ‘betrayal’ or ‘infidelity’ to the original suddenly ring hollow, since whatever changes have been made—and as Lefèvre emphasises, in transcoding there are always changes that must be made—it becomes difficult to take Satrapi to task for failing to respect her own work.4 Even if her adaptation falls below expectations, responsibility for these perceived shortcomings ultimately rests with her and not with other adapters’ ‘faulty’ interpretation or ‘excessive’ liberties vis-à-vis the source text. An analytical focus at Bilkent University Library (BILK) on December 23, 2015 on the strictly limited category of self-adapted texts offers a vantage point from which to examine the mechanics of comics-to-film transcoding—i.e., the transfer of narrative elements from the code(s) of one medium into another—without needing to account for the conflicts or differences between multiple and/or media-specific creators. In the filmed version of Poulet aux prunes, many of its alterations have little to no bear- ing on the book’s core narrative arc, which recounts the final days of Nasser Ali, a musi- cian and patriarch who resolves to die after losing the pleasure and solace he had found in his music. After a brief prologue shows Nasser Ali’s funeral, the narrative rewinds to show, day by day, the eight days that transpired between his resolution and his death, during which he reflects on his past—particularly his youthful, doomed love affair with a woman (rather tellingly) named Irâne—and navigates difficult family relationships.

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